I have no link to the South of America, however I’ve always felt an affinity for their cakes such as the Hummingbird and Red Velvet. I even loved the Red Velvet cake so much as we had it as our wedding cake. It was a really toilsome task to find as most cake makers in Sydney had never even heard of it and there was only one cakemaker that was prepared to make it for me. She even gave us a sample of it and whilst it was lovely tasting, it wasn’t quite red enough. She asked me how much redder I wanted it almost disbelievingly, until I told her that I wanted blood red. Thankfully we got our luridly lovely red velvet in the end with striking white icing.
Patisse chess cutters
I bought the little chess cutters at the Peters of Kensington sale. I was delighted to see them reduced from $14 to $4 and when the cashier rang them up they came to a princely sum of $2. It was surely meant to be. So I set about a task of baking a red velvet cake and measuring the squares for the fondant as precisely as possible. It didn’t turn out as red as I wanted as I used colouring gel for this, perhaps its best to use liquid as I’ve certainly had a redder than red velvet cake before and the liquid versus gel was the only difference. From looking at the raw cake batter, there was certainly enough red in it.
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February 23rd, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
This is our second “documented” visit to Green Gourmet made in an effort to convert my sister, a dyed in the wool carnivore into something close to a vegetarian, if only for a few hours. But they are dinner hours so these are crucial. Surprisingly she actually suggests it, I think she is almost daring the tofu and gluten to be tasty.
Its quiet as we’re early on a Saturday night, frightfully early really as the staff are eating their dinners. But with my parents there is no such thing as eating too early. My dad eats his lunch at 11am and his dinner at 5pm. So for him we’re right on time and what on earth are you rolling your eyes for?
Eggplant parcel 3 pcs $4.20
We choose a range of dishes, some that we’ve tried before and some that sound intriguing such as the ” Golden slices in plum sauce Tofu pillow stuffed with taro mash deep fried served with pinenuts, bamboo and plum sauce $15.80″ and we leave room for dessert, the Crispy lotus seed crepe with ice cream and the vegan deep fried ice cream, too alluring to pass up this time.
Our entrees arrive first, they’re familiar and well loved sights with the eggplant parcel 3 pcs $4.20 and chicken drumsticks 3 pcs $4.20. The eggplant parcels are crisply fresh and hot on the outside and soft and oozing but stil with a texture as only eggplant can have. We’ve ordered two serves for the five of us and each serve is 3 pcs and its a lucky person (me!) that gets the extra remaining parcel of soft gooeyness.
“Chicken” drumsticks 3 pcs $4.20
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February 22nd, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
When I was very young and first saw butterfly cupcakes, I thought that they were the height of sophistication. Little did I know that with a little deft slicing action, you could easily fashion a butterfly cupcake of your own. Eating them now, there’s something so satisfying and transporting about these pretty winged cakes stuffed with cream and strawberry jam (and it must be strawberry jam) and the cushioney cool, sweet squishiness when you bit into one. The old fashioned bakeries are now giving way to more sophisticated French patisseries but I still love a jam and cream cupcake.
These cupcakes combine the very Australian cake, the Lamington, a chocolate and coconut covered vanilla cake, with the old school butterfly cupcake.
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February 21st, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Prior to my visit, I was told three things about Bourke Street Bakery: 1. The queues are long but move quickly 2. The shop is tiny and 3. They make fantastic baked goods worshiped by many.
I can confirm all three. It was 1.50pm on a Saturday afternoon, where we, pre-picnic and perilously peckish fronted up the store. We needed something delicious and tasty to take to Centennial Park to eat before enjoying a tandem bike ride. And like everyone said, the line was long but moved quickly. I was queueing for less than 5 minutes when I reached the crowded front of the counter. With 4 people taking orders behind a fairly small space, its organised chaos.
As I’ve been waiting in the line I’ve already had a chance to decide what I want. I choose my selection of two sausage rolls, two types of rolls and two tarts (the strawberry and vanilla brulee tart is fresh from the oven, the huge tray brought out while I am waiting). Alas the ginger creme brulee with pistachio is not available. Sometimes life is just not fair! Its a cry for the spoilt I know and don’t think I don’t know how ludicrous that sounds but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed. There’s also quiches, sandwiches, pies, cookies and breads available.
Lamb, harissa and almond sausage roll $4
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February 20th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Now given the amount of butter, sour cream and sugar in this recipe, I can’t promise you a long time here on earth but I can promise you a good time. I first saw this on Oprah and having loved Sara Lee’s sultana pound cake ever since I first sunk my fork into the slightly thawed exterior, I felt the need to try and make one for myself (who ever ate the Sara Lee Pound cakes fully thawed? Its much better straight from the freezer!) . Luckily Oprah’s site had a recipe for this so very dense, eggy, buttery cake.
In an attempt to cut down the amount of butter ingested, and because there are only two of us here, I made this a loaf cake and halved the recipe. Just like a Sara Lee cake really although this ones comes with an optional icing which I can only give you a warning with and suggest that you have your cardiologist on speed dial!
However what I’ve done possibly reverses the health benefits of halving the cake size. I’ve opted to use sour cream icing from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess. This is one of my favourite icings in the world, lusciously cool, smooth and with the merest hint of sourness, its quite simply ambrosial and gives this what some would call, plain but very moist cake an edge. When I make this next, and I’m sure it will be soon, I think I’ll add some vanilla bean and overnight soaked sultanas for plumpness.
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February 19th, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
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