A Few of My Favourite Things !

Did anyone NOT watch the Masterchef Finale? And did anyone NOT love both the finalists, Adam & Callum – whom both have blogs now.

Seeing as we had not done a potluck since our Neil Perry special, I decided it was time for us to have a Masterchef cook-off, the idea being to cook a recipe from the Masterchef website and bring it along for all to try. As I didn’t bother asking what anyone was making, I was a little concerned that we would end up with four desserts and one entree and we’d have to order in pizza – not that there would have been anything wrong with eating four desserts for lunch. Fairytale ending…

We started with Adam’s Prawn Scotch Eggs with a Coconut, Chilli Sambal. So good.

This was followed by George’s Open Beef Kofta and George & Gary’s Chicken Winglets, Hummus and Raw Vegetable Salad (I took the photo before the winglets were placed!)

To end the meal, we had George’s Braised Tomatoes with Smoked Chocolate Mousse – my effort – and a Fruit & Cheese Platter.

These eye-catching cupcakes were so popular last time I baked them that I decided to do them again for a 1st Birthday Party. Everyone wonders how you get the cake in the cones and the answer, of course, is that they are baked in there. Exactly the same as you would normally bake cupcakes but substitute cupcake cases for flat-bottomed cones. My dilemma came in the form of transportation. These cupcakes were top-heavy with the weight of the frosting so how could I ensure that they got to the party venue intact? Lightbulb moment! I remembered that we used to melt wax into birthday candle holders to make the little candles stay. Of course, I used something far more delicious than wax. I painted the bottom of the cones with melted chocolate and stuck them onto my cupcake tray and let the chocolate set overnight. Those cupcakes didn’t budge the next day when I was carrying them to the car but then I was beset by doubts about whether they would come off when the partygoers tried to remove them. I needn’t have worried after all. A few jiggles and the cupcakes were theirs for the tasting.

This is very last minute so you’d better get on your bike if you’re interested in free entry to the Taste of Melbourne. I have 4 double passes, courtesy of Green & Black’s, valid for Opening night, Thursday 26th or Friday 27th to be won. A great opportunity to sample (yes, one of my favorite words) dishes from some wonderful Melbourne restaurants as I did last year. You’ll also receive a little Green & Black’s gift pack – yum, yum!

Simply leave a comment sometime over this weekend or early in the week. This competition is open to people in Australia only.

You can also purchase tickets here.

Session times:
Thursday 26 August – 5.30pm – 9.30pm
Friday 27 August 12.00pm – 4.00pm and 5.30pm – 9.30pm
Saturday 28 August 12.00am – 4.00pm and 5.30pm – 9.30pm
Sunday 29 August 12.00pm – 5.00pm

This post is very, and I mean VERY, late. This cake was baked 10 months ago for A’s birthday and since then we have celebrated Christmas, moved house, had our son’s 2nd birthday party, had a new baby and celebrated my birthday. I was reminded of this cake when someone from Green & Black’s contacted me this week with tickets to the upcoming Taste of Melbourne (more on this in the next post).

So on a Saturday night, after putting my son to bed, I finalised the preparations for the party. I had made mini burgers, and was serving them with peking duck rolls and assorted mini dim sum.

Guests started rolling in and food was rolling out. The doorbell rang and the singer that I had inadvertently stumbled upon when visiting the city library one afternoon came in to play a set for us.

Finally, the candles were lit and the cake was placed in front of the birthday boy. He chose this cake from my Alice Medrich bittersweet book after flicking through and looking at the pictures. I looked at the photo and thought ‘That looks easy enough’ and ended up having to purchase a $69 roll of plastic liner to make the the thin chocolate layer surrounding the cake as none of the stores sold smaller rolls.

We also had a smaller family celebration earlier in the evening but they didn’t want to stay for the main event. Here was the cake we had:

Strawberry Celebration Cake

Soaking Syrup
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup rum

Cream Filling:
2 cups mascarpone cheese
1 cup thickened cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Genoise

100g Green & Black’s Dark (85%) organic chocolate, melted

2 punnets strawberries

1. Pour melted chocolate along a strip of plastic liner that fits exactly around the inside of the cake tin and spread with spatula. Lift strip and fit ito tin with chocolate facing the inside. Refrigerate until set.
2. Combine ingredients for soaking syrup in saucepan and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Cool then add rum.
3. Combine ingredients for cream filling in large bowl and whip until the mixture is almost holding stiff peaks.
4. Cut the Chocolate Genoise into 2 layers horizontally and fit bottom layer into chocolate-lined tin. Brush bottom layer with 3 tbs soaking syrup and spread half of the cream evenly over the cake layer. Arrange and press strawberries into the cream. Cover the strawberries with a litte more cream.
5. Moisten the top later of cake lightly with 2 tbs syrup and fit it, moist side down, into the tin Press into place and moisten top of cake with the rest of the syrup. cover with remaining cream and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
6. Remove sides of springform tin very carefully and decorate top of the cake with cream, strawberries and chocolate fans. Carefully peel plastic strip off the cake and serve.