Basic Cupcakes

At school I got a reputation for being the 'Cupcake Queen'. People seem to think it's difficult to make cupcakes - but it's not. It really comes down to finding a quick and easy vanilla cake mix and knowing how to make a simple buttercream icing. This is the standard recipie i've used for a few years now and it works really well.

225g (8oz) unsalted butter softened
225g (8oz) SRF
225g (8oz) caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder

Using electric beaters beat all ingredients together for at least 3 minutes until pale and airated.
Spoon into baking cases and bake for 2o minutes in a moderate oven.

Depending on the size of your muffin pans - I know that the American sizes are completely different to the ones we use - this makes about 2 dozen regular sized cupcakes.

Baking Odds and Ends

This is just baking I've done recently. I don't really have the motivation nor the time to post individual recipies at the moment, however, should any one interest you - I am more than happy to provide.




Lamingtons


Cinamon swirls.



Chocolate Peppermint Creams.





Birthday Present for a friend - chocolate cupcakes with chocolate and coffee swirl icing. Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing and glacé cherries




Birthday present for a friend - vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing






Sugar & Spice Palmiers with Honey Cream.





'Eggy Cupcakes' - vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream icing and apricots

Coconut & Jasmine Green Tea Rice Pudding

This was superb. My fascination with green tea has begun.
It started with a brief recipe I sighted in an asian cookbook for green tea rice pudding - the traditional japanese way.


I had a quick search and found a recipe at Tiffany's Recipe Box for Coconut Green Tea Rice Pudding and adjusting according to what we had in the cupboard, as well as this neat post on 17 and Baking, this is what I came up with.

4 cups of boiling water
4 tbsp of jasmine green loose leaf/plunger tea
1 1/2 cups of uncooked jasmine rice (I used basmati as my pantry is sorely lacking of late)
1 can coconut cream
1/3 cup white sugar

extra:
200ml cream
vanilla
extra water

I used a double saucepan for the entire pudding process, excepting the syrup, because I was feeling lazy, it may work better for others to alternate between a few.

In a double saucepan, steep the tea in the boiling water for at least 5 minutes (I went about ten and wished i'd left it longer, as I really wanted to draw out the flavour of the tea). Same as my Chai process, I strained this through a standard sieve into a pouring jug then strained this through a fine sieve back into the saucepan.

Get the water at a high simmer in the double saucepan by adding a good teaspoon of salt. This raises the boiling point of the water generating greater heat. Add the rice and cook until all the water in absorbed.
Shake the can of coconut cream to mix the contents together. Add it all at once to the rice and stir to combine. Let this absorb into the rice, stirring occasionally, for about half an hour.

I love a really creamy rice pudding, generally which I achieve with copious amounts of milk. I didn't really feel like spending a great deal of time at the stove and so I grabbed a long life carton of cream from the fridge. I added a little milk, about two thirds of a cup, and about half a teaspoon of vanilla essence.
I added about half a cup of this to the pudding.

Turn off the heat and let the pudding sit.

I took a good third of a cup of the used jasime green tea mix and steeped in a 1 1/2 - 2 cups of boiling water for about half an hour while the pudding was cooking. I put this into a small saucepan and boiled for 5 minutes or so. I strained the tea leaves out then returned it to the pot with about half a cup of sugar. I put this on a high heat, stirring infrequently until sugar is dissolved and beginning to thicken.





Serve hot or cold in small bowls with a little of the cream mix and a little of the syrup.
When cold the flavour of the tea should be more pronounced.



Enjoy =)

Chai Please

Chai tea something sacred in my family. It came from frequenting the Chai tents at the local markets and this global music festival that gets held every year. Like most things, this resulted in an intensive internet search in which we taught ourselves the art of Chai making.

Since then Gloria Jeans had the wonderful idea of making Chai Tea Lattes. A friend of mine who works as a Barista swears by GJ's Chai, but I just can't go past the slightly more authentic spices-in-a-pot brew I make at home. (GJ's uses a pre-mixed chai tea spice which is infused for a few minutes)
It takes a little while, but the end product is worth it - and it makes your house smell delightful.


Chai is very much a trial and error process, you've just got to keep persisting to get the right blend of spice for your palate, the right amount or type of sugar (I often use brown or raw sugar), the best way of adding milk and the right length of time to boil for your pot/stove combination.


1 litre of water
2-3 cinamon quills
2 medium sized bay leaves
18 green cardamon pods
16 whole black peppercorns
18 whole cloves
4 slices of fresh ginger (or a small teaspoon of minced ginger works as well)
occasionally I add a little bit of star anise - but this can set the whole balance off, so be careful.

2 teaspoons black loose leaf tea
2 cups milk (use less for a stronger brew)
2 teaspoons white sugar to taste



Put the litre in a medium sized pot - this will reduce to about half the quantity before milk.
To release the spices efficiently I break up the cinamon quills by rolling them out - so there are lots of long thin pieces. Rip the bay leaves in half. The peppercorns and cloves go in whole. Sometimes I use half cardamon seeds and half the green pods - it just gives different flavours. You can put the seeds in as is, but if you use pods break them up so that you get the flavour of the shells and the seeds into the mix. (I use a mortar and pestle.) Slice the ginger thinly.

Put the pot onto boil and stir the spices so they distribute throughout the pot. Once it boils set it to simmer for around 40 minutes - a little longer if making a larger quantity.
Once it's been simmering for long enough, reduce the heat to low and take it off the heat. Add the tea, stir and leave to steep for at least 5 minutes.

Put pot back onto the heat, add milk and sugar to taste. Stir occasionally until the brew reaches the desired temperature.
Strain the whole mix into a bowl/pouring jug. I use a large normal sized sieve and then used a fine strainer to pour from the jug into individual mugs.

Alternatively you can strain the brew into a milk jug and froth using the steam function on a coffee machine to make a latte.




Leave a comment and let me know how you found this and tell me how you like your Chai brewed. =)




This will serve about 4 standard mugs of chai when finished, doubling this is easy - but you can't keep chai for very long unless it is kept warm due to the high milk content.

*note: this can be made in a slow cooker - left for 5 or so hours before adding milk.