Every year I buy Mr NQN a fruit basket for Christmas. It’s always the fruit that he never buys himself and when I went on a shopping expedition for this year’s basket I came across these donut peaches. I had heard about this gorgeous breed, originally from China that was sweeter and juicier than regular peaches and with a much smaller, easy to remove seed. These white peaches looked good and when I asked if they were sweet, they cut off a slice for me. I tasted it and it was incredibly sweet and juicy and peachy I was convinced that they’d given me a peach soaked in syrup.

I greedily bought a bag of them and took them home intending to give them to Mr NQN on Christmas Day but in my excitement I couldn’t help telling him about them. It went something like this:

NQN: “Do you want your present now?”

Mr NQN: “No, not really.”

NQN: “But aren’t you curious about what fruit is in your fruit basket?”

Mr NQN: “No, not really”

NQN: “Why not?”

Mr NQN: “Because it’s a Christmas present”

NQN: “Yes but it’s almost Christmas”

Mr NQN: “It’s Christmas tomorrow”

NQN: (blurts out) “Well… I bought you some donut peaches!”

You see I couldn’t really contain myself as I do sometimes get excited around food that’s particularly exciting so I ruined the surprise (although I am a very good secret keeper I promise). I decided that they were just too pretty not to blog about so I sought inspiration in my fridge. I had 3/4 of a 250g tub of sour cream that needed to be used and the friendly people at Breville had given me their latest mixer, a Breville Professional BEM800 Wizz Planetary mixer so I decided to kill two birds by making a cupcake using sour cream. I decided to base the cupcake itself on the Jam Donut cupcakes I had made earlier this year just to upp the donut content so that it wasn’t just the peach that was donutty.

Oooh purrty!

What was a complete bonus was the fascination Mr NQN had with the new piece of machinery. For starters, he liked the look of it in all industrial stainless steel (perhaps my Pink Kitchenaid frightened him off with the colour). He was interested in the “planetary mixing action” which he wanted to see in action. Comparing the two I saw there were a lot more features like a count down and count up timer which is very useful, pause and a temperature overload cut off. There were also 4 speed settings depending on how much mixing you want to do: aerating/whipping; creaming/beating; light mixing and folding/kneading. It came with the same heads as the Kitchenaid and Breville had also given me a head much like my much used Beaterblade and an ultra flexible clear spatula..

A Christmas present from Mr NQN, Babushka measuring cups

I gave him all the mixing duties as that was the only thing he was interested in and we made the Sour Cream & Donut Peach Cupcakes. It was easy to use and seemed sturdier than my Kitchenaid. We both thought that they had taken the Kitchenaid and seen where it needed improving and made the necessary changes to give it more features and a more solid look although the mixer itself is lighter. Mr NQN’s only complaint? The mixing was over before he knew it and in truth the recipe below doesn’t really even need a mixer, it was just the excitement of using a new toy. We also both thought that the tilt head button wasn’t quite as intuitive or easy to maneuveur as the Kitchenaid although once you get the hang on of it it’s easy and works well, it’s more with the first use (and I never read manuals). Could I finally be in a his and hers mixer situation? Would I prefer the Breville to the Kitchenaid? Only time can tell…

The cupcake was lovely and soft inside courtesy of the sweet peach and sour cream. I dusted it with icing sugar but of course if you really want to carry through the donut experience, you could use regular white sugar mixed with cinnamon stuck on with a light brushing of peach jam.

So tell me Dear Reader, how do you get your significant other to cook in the kitchen?

Sour Cream & Donut Peach Cupcakes

Makes 10

Ingredients

• 300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 80ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 175ml/6 fl oz sour cream
• 2-3 donut peaches, diced
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• a little ground cinnamon to shake on top
• 1/2 donut peach sliced to decorate
• 1/3 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line a cupcake tray.

2. Sift the flour into a medium bowl, then add a pinch of salt and the caster sugar. In a jug, combine the vegetable oil, egg, sour cream, milk and whisk. Add the wet mixture and the peach pieces to the dry mixture and stir to only just combine. It will be thick and puffy so you will need to spoon it into the cases. Fill until 3/4 full or 7/8 full. I realise it sounds bizarre but I asked Mr NQN to fill it 7/8 full which was perfect for the domed look.

See the teeny pip-easy to remove too

3. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

My beloved Glinda LG oven

4. Sift icing sugar on top and shake a little ground cinnamon. Top with some pieces of fresh peach if desired.

My friend Kathy is one of my biggest supporters. She’s always finding very cool and quirky things to make and when she shows me something, I know it wil be a goody. Case in point is these Cheeseburger Cupcakes. As soon as I saw these I got all excited and starting pointing at the computer excitedly trying to get my husband’s attention. “Look! Look!” I mimed as my mouth was full of juice. His chuckle assured me that to make these was a no brainer.

I’ve mentioned the cheeseburger is my favourite burger. When I was young, I was never allowed a Big Mac, only the cheeseburger and whilst I never flipped the pickles onto the window sill as some of my friends did during a rowdy, fun 8th birthday party, I never liked the pickles. Nowadays I make up for my previous pickle shunning by requesting extra pickles in my cheeseburger.

The “cheese, sauces and lettuce” for these are created via icing tubes and I did a shortcut and made 6 cupcakes in total which you can do using the one 12 muffin tray and making 6 chocolate cupcakes and 6 vanilla cupcakes. The chocolate centre is a mud cake centre whilst the bun is a regular vanilla butter cake. It doesn’t get much harder than that and there’s no buttercream to make after it or god forbid any spun toffee. In fact these were amongst the easiest cupcakes I’ve made in a long time and the most rewarding.

In the absence of any real icing or filling, these are more what I’d call novelty cupcakes although you could certainly dig a bit of a hole and add some jam, cream or curd in it. If you don’t, I’d try and eat these on the day you make them or the day after  as icing often helps to keep a cupcake moist. For an authentic measure which also aids in keeping the cupcake moist, do as you’d do a cheeseburger and wrap it up in some wax paper.

So tell me Dear Reader, which type of cupcake would you like me to make next?

Click here to read the full story

Tradespeople. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. And if I had the choice I’d live without them. Renovating our new place is proving a challenge and I realised why they have such a bad reputation. Forget “The Cable Guy”, why couldn’t we have a movie called “The Disappearing Plumber”. I for one would like to know what happened to mine.

I know what you’re thinking: I got cocky. I had success with the Choux pastry and now I am just making it left, right and centre. The truth is, I just wanted to see if my choux was beginner’s luck. I sometimes have that – the very first time I made macarons they worked and then the five batches after they didn’t. So I wanted to see whether I would be able to replicate the initial choux success or whether I would be a one hit wonder.

I also promised a friend that I’d try and make a Croquembouche for an event but with the upcoming move I had to beg off making the entire monstrosity. I hate to let people down so I did what I thought was an easier alternative. My enthusiasm for things always gets the better of me and once I decided to do it, I somehow neglected to think through the 10 steps needed in order to produce these. Before I knew it, I’d made the custard, choux and was about to make the cupcakes when I realised that making an entire croquembouche might have been easier. It was 2.30pm and I had to meet the plumber at the new place across the bridge at 4 pm. I was on step 5 and had to somehow get from step 5 to 10 and get the whole thing photographed before it was whisked away. I only just made it and I passed the cupcakes onto my happy friend who loved them but probably had no idea how close I was to not finishing them.

Please excuse the lack of in progress photos. Caramel and the ensuing panic does not make for good in progress photographs. But do trust me that these little cupcakes are divine. A crunchy toffee, a sumptuously creamy chilled vanilla custard burst inside and a soft vanilla cupcakes. Sweet dreams are made of this.

And then I got the call. You know the one from the plumber where he says he won’t be able to make it to our place after all? And after my little screaming and cursing fit I calmed myself down and my friend asked me what was wrong. I explained to her and she was appropriately sympathetic but she also pointed out that I was lucky to get a call from them. Oh yes there’s a special place for these kinds of people. And I am certain that they aren’t served Croquembouche Cupcakes there.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been stood up and who by?

Also the lucky winner of the Escapade Events opening night party double pass is Effie B! And for those of you who missed out, you can still subscribe for $10 and come along to the party

Click here to read the full story