30 September 2008

School Holidays Begin






As it was the first day of the school holidays I was enthusiastic. Madeline was having a friend around for the day, so I decided we could do some baking, and then take them down to the beach afterward for a picnic.
Searching the internet for an easy but delicious recipe, I found Joy of Baking.com for for a vanilla cupcake recipe. I didn't have any unsalted butter with me, but as I am on a butter strike (too expensive!) I substituted with the Flora spread. Incidentally I have not been using butter in my baking for over a year since the prices rose, and also since my nephew is allergic to dairy. In doing this I have found cooking with spread (Pams, Flora, Olivio etc) far easier (creaming is a breeze!) and much less expensive than butter. I also added pink food colouring to the cupcake mix just to make it a bit more girly.
The girls danced in the lounge singing their heads off while they cooled, and were far too engrossed in their fantasy land of Hannah Montana to notice I was icing the cupcakes, which is good for me as I am fussy and particular and I LOVE icing them myself. Terrible I know...
They went down well and the 2 big girls finished them, while Katie only ate the icing on the top. I was sad I didn't get a picture of Johnny enjoying it, as while I was out of the room he was fed one by the 3 giggling girls and he was covered in head to toe in chocolate icing much to their delight!
The cupcakes were okay. I wouldn't make them the day before eating as they dried out pretty quickly. Still not quite what I was after for a moist vanilla cupcake but they did the trick today.
Lets see if I'll be as enthusiastic next week...

21 September 2008

Strawberry Babycakes






Okay so I cheated on this one. In a quick trip to the supermarket with the girls I decided to get a
packet mix for them to make up. You know, so I don't have the whole kitchen covered in egg and flour. Madeline chose the Edmonds Strawberry Babycakes mostly because the picture on the cover was pink.
Really easy to make...just add water and oil. They smelled great while cooking. Final product is sweet, moist and definitely tasty and the strawberry flavour stands out. Both the girls decorated these (with some help from mum). Katie was more interested in eating the sprinkles though!
They were popular later that evening with guests around, however it was way too easy to eat lots of them as they were only bite-sized.