Cake Decorating - Peppa Pig

I love doing kids birthday cakes. I don't have children myself so I get to learn a lot of new things. New cartoons, new games, it is all very interesting and sometimes a bit mind boggling. This was an order and I loved doing it.

This was the first time that I have covered a cake in two different colours of fondant. The joins on the sides weren't the best but it still turned out well. Once the green and blue were on the cake I hit it with some lustre spray to give it a bit of a glow. The Peppa pig was fairly easy to do. I found a picture online which I printed out in a size I wanted, traced it onto baking paper, cut that out (with a scalpel) and then cut it out in fondant. I prefer to cut my baking paper templates with the scalpel I use for cutting out fondant because it gives a more precise cut. The flowers were done with cutters and then shaped with some tools. The lettering was done with my clikstix cutters, which are fabulous by the way. I loved doing it and the lady who ordered it thought it was gorgeous and on talking with her later she said that her granddaughter was so excited. 

Carrot & Zucchini Crepes

I made these yesterday. I don't make them often and I am not really sure why because they are so good. Such a filling and satisfying meal. These were my mum's speciality. Mine are never the same as mum's but I thought that mother's day was a good time to make them again.

Zucchini & Carrot crepes

Crepes:
makes 6 in a 24 cm pan

1/2 c wholemeal flour
2 eggs, whisked
1/4 c. chopped parsley
2/3 c milk (original recipe has 1/2 c but I always need to add more, perhaps start with 1/2)
1/4 c water

Combine all ingredients. Let stand 1 hour.
Cook in a hot greased pan by pouring in 1/4 c and swirling around until the base of the pan is covered, let cook about 30 sec to 1 min and then turn cooking for 10 - 15 sec. Set aside to cool.

Filling:

1 carrot, grated
3 zucchini, grated
1 onion, finely diced
salt & pepper
60 g cheddar cheese, grated
60 g mozzarella, grated

Saute onion over a low heat until soft. Add carrot & zucchini and cook until soft. Season and then add cheese and stir until melted. Set aside.

Sauce:

1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp mixed herbs (dried)
1/4 c tomato paste
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1/2 c water
1 tbsp brown sugar

Saute onion over a med-low heat until soft, add garlic and herbs and cook for a minute. Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Increase heat to medium and then add tomatoes, water and sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thick (this takes 20 - 30 minutes)

To put together:

Divide filling evenly between the crepes, roll firmly and place in a casserole dish. Pour over half of the sauce, top with extra grated cheese. Cook at 180 C for 30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is golden.

Serve with extra sauce.

These are very filling, one with a salad is enough for me. You will probably have some sauce left over, I always do. It is great on pasta.

April 2010 - Spanish Prawns with Spicy Lentils

Surprise! Back to an old issue of delicious magazine. It had been a little while since I had gone back to any of the issues and made something. Although I do have to confess that I didn't pull out the issue from the bookshelf. I have had this recipe bookmarked to be made for ages and then it turned up as recipe of the day over on Taste so it seemed like it was the perfect time to make it. The added benefit was that I had all the ingredients in the cupboard for it. 

There is so much flavour in this dish it is hard to know where to start. It all melded together perfectly to make a fantastic dish. I used my own harissa paste, which has been updated since January so another post to follow. The chorizo went perfectly and added extra spice as well as flavour. I loved the idea of using a jar of roasted capsicum rather than doing my own. Not that it is hard but with the price of capsicum at the moment I think it is almost cheaper to buy the jars. Instead of using tins of lentils I cooked my own and added however much I thought was in a tin, it was probably a bit more than a tin. It didn't matter, it was perfect. I really enjoyed the prawns in it too. I also added some spinach. It was wonderful reheated for lunch and, surprisingly, the prawns reheated just fine. I have since made it a second time using diced chicken thighs in place of the prawns and some sliced green beans. I will definitely make this one again and again. 

Gingerbread loaf

Despite best intentions I didn't get any posts done during my holidays. There really isn't any excuses. I sat down many a time to do some but seemed to get easily distracted by something else. 

Like my previous post I made this Gingerbread loaf for the April Bake Club challenge over at taste.com.au. It just looked so good and I really do like ginger. I had some gluten-free flour in the cupboard so decided to give it a go and see how it would turn out. Also with it being gluten-free I could easily give some of it to one of my friends. I was really pleased with how it turned out with the gluten-free flour. The texture was just excellent. It did sink a bit in the middle but it wasn't too bad. I think I should have cooked it another 5 minutes and it would have been fine. I was, however, rather disappointed with it otherwise. I reduced the sugar by half but it was still ridiculously sweet and the ginger flavour was crazy strong. Most of it did get eaten but all agreed that it certainly wasn't the best thing that I have made. It is not something that I will make again...it does look good though.

Banana Cake with Orange & Maple Sauce

I had my grandparents come for lunch on Easter Sunday. I roasted a chicken on the weber, which was less than successful. I timed it as suggested in the book but it was not cooked. So we jointed the chicken and put the pieces back in the weber. However since it had already cooked for quite some time I really should have replaced the foil as after a while it caught fire! I did get the chicken out and put the fire out but it was a bit exciting and gave a rather smoky flavour to the chicken. It wasn't a bad flavour but it wasn't exactly what I was going for.

For dessert I made this Banana Cake with Orange & Maple Sauce. It was very good.  I poured the sauce over the cake in the tin and let it soak in. I made custard in my thermomix for the first time to go with it. My grandmother was impressed, it was the first time she had seem the thermomix in action. It was awesome custard too. 

Custard 

70 g sugar

50 g flour

2 eggs

500 g milk 

1 tsp vanilla 

Sugar & flour - 20 sec/sp 9

Add remaining ingredients 7 min/90 C/sp 4